Lu Shang Insight

Any fishers out there with Lu Shang's that can provide some insight as to what makes this rod better than a composite/halcyon set up? Other than the obvious "minimal breakage". Im currently @ 55 fishing and began fishing in nashmau and have had marginal success with halcyon. Is there a hidden effect of increased skill up rate with lu shangs? Or is the appeal just that it hardly breaks? Cuz i've only ever broken 2 halcyons and both were just stupid mistakes on my part. (trying to fish up a giant donko without swapping rods) With the fishing messages we get now One can know right away if the fish is large, small or an item or monster. We can target specific fish to avoid rod breaks.
And as far as line breakage goes...from what I read and got from talking to ppl is that line breaks happen regardless of the rod. So idk..i'd like more feedback before I loosen the purse strings. I'm not against getting a Lu shang's but I wanna weigh my value/benefit rewards ratio before I dish out that kinda money(or the time). Thanks all!

As I understand it, composite rods have one set of advantages (iirc, they resist breakage and can haul in larger fish) and wooden rods have another set of advantages (iirc, they pull in fish more quickly). What I was told is that Lu Shang's has both of these sets of advantages. So, in addition to being very difficult to break, it also hauls in fish more quickly than a lot of other rods.

Sorry I don't have more detail off the top of my head... that's just what I was told last time I talked about Lu Shang's with one of my fisher friends.

There are some locations that you need to be able to haul in small fish along with large fish (or breams which are both). The main place that comes to mind is the ssg pond where you can have nebimonites (small), breams (both), grimmonites (large).

There's always that one person consistently pulling in nebimonites and ONLY nebimonites with a halcyon rod... strange huh? I'm sure there's a legit person here and there, but yeah.

Depends entirely on what you want to fish. IIRC, it is faster stamina depletion, like a wooden rod with the strength of a composite.

Also, if you are going to fish Black Sole, less (maybe no) line breaks.

Other than that, if you ever plan on fishing the larger fishes, Get the Lu.

There is a hidden effect on the lu shangs, most fishers ive spoken to seem to think its +50 fishing skill but it certinely is there.

I tried to fishup Blacksole with 50 fishing skill and Halycon rod in 1 hour i managed to get 2, tons of line breaks, not enough skill msgs etc.

another hour but with a Lu shangs, 0 line breaks, 0 not enough skills and over 30 blacksoles caught.

so the rod is worth it.

The major bonus you'll see to lu shangs isn't the skill up rate, but the time saved by being able to catch small and large skill up fish at the same time w/o having to swap rods. Lu's does have the 2nd highest stamina drain also, ebisu being the best.

A great example of this is fishing in nashmau. Ppop a shrimp lure on with lu shangs and you can reel in mercanbaligi and ahtapot, both of which cap in the upper 80 skill lvls. with only composite or halcyon you'll be getting messages saying the fish is too small/large for the rods, or even rod breaks. same situation applies to other fishing areas as well, like the ferry to selbina.

If you have the gil to get one or time to finish the quest it is worth it. You'll ultimately pay off the rod by being able to NPC more fish faster and skill up more because you dont have to cancel large fish that might break your halcyon.

Lu Shangs matter when you get to a higher level of fishing because you'll see less line/rod breaks than you would if you were using another rod. It's also pretty much necessary if you plan on fishing up liks and gugs for an Ebisu Rod.

Thanks for the input guys/gals...the +50 fishing skill hidden effect intrigues me...I might have to grab one next time I see one on the AH and give 'er a whirl.

this is the correct answer

There is no reason not to get Lu Shang's rod. It makes fishing much easier and more efficient.

This. Plus, Lu Shang prices have been fairly steady/slowly increasing since the beginning of the year. Buy one, use it till you get an Ebisu, sell at pretty much the same price you bought it.

Okay,to start off,lu shang doesnt have hidden effect of 50 skill as said in one of the post above.The matter is this,every rod is made for catching either or small,or large fish,if you try to catch a small fish whit a rod designed for large,it just say the fish is too small and viceversa.lu shang get any small or large.all other rods can't.Lu shang cannot be broken by any non legendary fish.
Lu shang don't break line by any non legendary fish,Skill level doesn't matter,whit other rod it matter,but you can catch lvl 99 fish even at skill lvl 10,because it cannot be broken and line breaked by non legendary fish,that is the only reason.other rods instead can,and your skill level set your % rate at all those problems to happen,whit lu shang they just can't happen.Plus,lu shang have the faster stamina depletion of all.Ebisu,have just faster stamina depletion,and cannot be broken by any fish,just line break whit the most strongher fish like gugrusaurus lik matsya and the new fish hakuryu ecc.

@Stiel you need to work on your grammer

Catching a lv90 fish with 10 fishing skill which you are UNABLE to with any other rod (besides Ebisu) sounds like a hidden effect to me...

@Fearforever You need to work on your spelling. :P

Im seriously considering getting myself one of these, is there any really good guides for fishing? I know you can go to nash and get to like 80 or so etc

Meh I've barely slept in the last week i'm allowed to not spell correctly

I did mine a lazy way took awhile but.

0>10 Moat Carp 10>50 Shall Shells 50>96 Black soles takes awhile but fishing to cap daily you could easily get 4-6 fishing skills a day

Alright thanks, I'll do a little searching see if there's any other ways!

actually you are allowed 3 mistakes!

this is like a fishing mind meld

this is indeed the way to go, to add slightly, if you want 100, move to armored pisces then back to black sole or start shooting for eisbu

does not account for the discrepancy in black sole bites over time

fishing with a halycon and then spending the same amount of time with a lu shangs

Okay then!

Unless you have terrible luck (like some people do), you should be well on your way to ebisu before you need to move to armored pisces.
I would also suggest Pterygotus from 96-99 over Armored Pisces.

gugrus are an amazing pain to fish with lus, unless you are rich enough to buy them en masse(34k a pop on carby), or want to spend a lot of time fishing while actually at the keyboard

i can see gugs taking quite a while

Come to bis. I'll sell you them for 20k a pop.

Side note, for people hunting liks or gugs, I'd suggest looking at the AH history and seeing who is selling them, then contact and try and arrange to buy them directly from the fisherman in bulk.

That's what I did for mine, and what I've been doing for new fishers. It's win-win for both sides. Cheaper Fish for buyers, and no waiting on the 7 fish AH limit for sellers.

30k a pop on Cerb~ i'll see how it goes before I decide to do that

Ya, AH is 30k here on bis as well.

Lu shang does not have any hidden fishing skill. That is impossible since the auto-regen is the same as any other rod except ebisu.

Ebisu has a hidden effect of +46 fishing skill, and only ebisu. This can be determined by comparing fish at a certain level to find at what level auto-regen stops (when you don't move the rod to reduce the health bar).

there is one person on our server who is selling them(with very occasional contributions from a second guy), and he sells every one he catches within hours

he is, unfortunately, not interested in bulk sales :(

i can't blame him, in his position i wouldn't be either

i've stopped buying them in hopes that the other two dudes snapping them up will get their KIs and he'll be amenable to better terms

Wow, Only one person? Maybe I should hop over to your server...
Side note, I was fishing Crocodilos earlier today. Ebisu Rod, 98 Skill +3 in gear. Of the 4 I fished up, I lost 3 due to "lack of skill". What level is this fish o.o